The social media network X has provoked widespread backlash after users used its AI chatbot Grok to alter pictures of women by removing their attire.
Several examples have emerged where the tool has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in sexually explicit contexts.
Developer Response and Regulatory Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, remained silent to questions, other than an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw nudification tools. Under a new law, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok could prevent these forms of misuse if they wanted to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy impunity."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said tech firms must "consider the potential" of people seeing unlawful material on their services, but did not confirm whether it was presently examining X or Grok in concerning artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost AI assistant—with some additional functions—which reacts to X users' requests when they reference it in a tweet.
It is often used to provide reactions or further background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its AI image editing tool.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been criticised for permitting users to generate pictures and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive content, and it was previously accused of creating sexually explicit content of celebrities.
"X has been enabling the generation and spread of these pictures for months without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by oversight bodies," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own terms of service forbids "depicting likenesses of people in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "create or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes generated with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "suitable actions" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their platforms and to take down it promptly when they become aware of it.
